Medicaid Dental Services payments in Medford climb 16.8% in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Medford billed $144,229 for services under the Dental Services category, as shown by data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This reflected a 16.8% rise over the prior year, when claims totaled $123,445 for the same services.

Medicaid is a state-operated health insurance program funded jointly by federal and state governments. It serves low-income children and adults, seniors, and people with disabilities, representing one of the nation’s largest health care initiatives.

Because taxpayer dollars support Medicaid, shifts in local billing show how health care funding is distributed in the community.

The “Dental Services” group represents a set of Medicaid-billed procedures defined by treatment type and standardized using HCPCS and CPT coding systems. This analysis assigned each billing code to one category—determined consistently by code prefixes and numeric groupings—to track services accurately and avoid double counting when reviewing trends and rankings.

Medicaid spending increased in several major categories; Dental Services placed fifth in Medford by total payments during 2024.

Statewide in New York, Dental Services ranked 11th in total Medicaid payments for that year.

From 2019 to 2024, Dental Services-related Medicaid payments in Medford grew by $42,652, a 42% rise. The pace of growth accelerated in some years, with especially notable increases occurring in 2023 and 2020.

Although payments for Dental Services were spread throughout the city, they were most heavily concentrated in a select group of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 11763 accounted for $144,228 in Medicaid Dental Services payments. Altogether, this single ZIP code made up 100% of Medford’s Medicaid Dental Services payments in that year.

Within this service group, payment volume was focused on a small set of specific billing codes.

Comparatively, the 16.8% growth for Medford’s Dental Services outpaced a 10.8% increase for all Medicaid claim types in the city during the same period between 2023 and 2024.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending reached approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This made up around 18% of U.S. total national health expenditures—a significant rise from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This growth of roughly 40% within a few years was mainly driven by expanded coverage and increased utilization following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget actions during the Trump administration included major proposals to reduce federal Medicaid contributions and change the program’s structure. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,”, enacted in 2025, is expected to cut more than $1 trillion from federal Medicaid spending in the coming decade and establishes new policies like work requirements and higher cost-sharing—which could reduce funding and affect coverage for certain groups. These shifts are set to transfer more financial responsibility to states and restrict future federal support, even as Medicaid serves tens of millions of people.

Note: HCPCS codes are shown for context within the category. Category totals and rankings in this article are based on standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.

Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The source data can be found here.